Online Communities and Social Networks

AsianXO.com - Provides free news, profiles, e-mail, homepage, chat, and forums.
Buzznet - Users can create communities and share blogs and photographs.
Communities.com - Provides chat rooms, communities, forums, instant messaging, detailed photo profiles, photo galleries, and photo ratings. Search members by age, sex, location, and interests.
The Cult - A worldwide organization of mostly high school and college students - a unique collection of ideas and services.
Dacity.com - Provides members a free message board on many subjects, free chat services, free homepages and free online games.
Facemeet: - Worldwide chatrooms, swap photos, rate and message each other. Free sign up and membership.
Flamingcube - Offer image gallery hosting, webmail, albums, polls, and forums.
Flork - Worldwide community of interesting people. Find new friends easily by 'florking around.'
Forums for Everything - PC help, home repair, automotive and others.
Found Myself - Provides a forum for artwork, hobbies, and opinions. Has chat rooms, message boards, games, contests, an online drawing program, and image gallery.
Kancof: Greatness Among Nations - From philosophy to world news to politics to religion to sports to fitness to weapons.
The Lost Diner - Focused on the abandoned, forgotten, mysterious, and unexplained. Has forums, chat rooms, and message board. Share stories, photos, maps, conversation, links, and ideas.
Meefo.com - Meefo is a place where anyone is accepted. Features news, reviews, gallery, chat and random banter.
MyNeti.com: Next Online Community - Personals, forums, chat, and shopping. Has message boards listed by subject.
NowTalking - Read and write diaries, send mail to other members, and exchange messages in guestbooks.
Online Node - A community aiming for multiculturalism by providing members with webpages, guestbooks, journals, chatrooms, message boards, private messaging and games.
OpenGaia - Browse through profiles, personals, shared interests, experiences and ideas, polls, creations, job search. Participate, share, meet people.
The Pork - Members can access chat rooms, discussion boards, personals, and instant messaging.
Rogues Tavern Online Community - Online community of international rogues, scoundrels and rascals. Offering chat, message board, graffiti and a scrapbook.
Sciforums - Forum discussions cover world events, science, religion, philosophy, and technology.
Spammers Paradise - General discussion. Has forum, store, calendar, and member directory.
The Spoke - Microsoft's digital lifestyle club for students from around the world, with message boards, hubs, blogs and 10 MB of upload space for members.
Talk City - Participate in discussions about relationships, hobbies, business, technology, health and other topics. Socialize with friends, or start your own chat group.
Twitter - Social networking and microblogging service utilising instant messaging, SMS or a web interface.
Wanderlist - User-contributed, user-evaluated lists of notes including lots of links.
Whyville - A virtual 3-D world for curious minds where you can own land, build your own house, play simulation games, win prizes, chat, and help the community grow.
WireClub - Personal and group blogs tied in with many other social networking features. Geared to meeting people through shared interests. Free site.
YouThink.com - Ask questions, and discuss jokes, movies and trivia.
BusinessWeek: Internet Communities - Surfers are losing interest on website content and want now to settle in online communities. (May 5, 1997)

Social Networking

Advogato - A community site for developers of free software.
Amina - Provides articles, news, online discussion boards, chat room, photo gallery, and private email service focusing on social life in Chechnya. Users may write in Chechen, Russian, and English.
aSmallWorld - A private online community designed for those who already have strong connections with one another. By invitation only.
Badoo - A worldwide community that provides its members with the ability to communicate and share their lives. Features include photo and video sharing.
Bebo - Allows users to share photos with music, and blogs, and draw on members' White Boards.
BlackPlanet.com - A community for African Americans, that provides an interactive forum with chat, photos, games, email, and contests.
Broadcaster.com - A live entertainment community allows users to communicate with one another through a two-way web cam interface with interactive broadcast controls. Also offers access to content such as video clips, live web cams, and games.
Buzznet - A video, photo and journal based community that enables users to program dynamic multimedia communities around music and pop culture topics.
CarDomain - A home for car enthusiasts, with pictures, video, groups and blogs.
Care2 - Connects activists from around the world, with member profiles, news stories and blogs to facilitate social networking, petition and donation drives and email.
Classmates.com - Find, connect and keep in touch with friends and acquaintances, post photographs, announcements, and biographies, read community message boards and be informed of upcoming reunions. Free and paid memberships.
Consumating - Billed as "A new way to find people who don't suck". Users can find others with similar interests based on the tags displayed in their profile, by location, gender and age. Supports its members meeting in person, in large groups.
CouchSurfing - Offers profile listing, discussion groups and a place to arrange free accommodations around the world.
Cyworld - Users have access to a profile page, photos, drawings and images uploading, an avatar, neighborhoods, and clubs.
Dandelife - Users are able to create a personal biography and share it with the world. Incorporates photos at Flickr, and videos at Youtube.
Dodgeball.com - Mobile social software available in several cities in the United States, maintained by Google. Profile page for members.
DontStayIn - View photos from bars, clubs and other social events throughout the UK, the US, Spain and Ireland. Profile page, gallery and live chat.
Doostang - An invitation only site that ensures all contacts entering the system are trusted by at least one or more members in the network. Members share career opportunities and interact with others.
eCRUSH - Find out if a secret admirer feels the same, without the risk of rejection; also quizzes, chat, love advice, and match making.
Eons - Information, tools and communities for people over the age of fifty.
eSPIN-the-Bottle - Designed for teens and college students to meet, rate pictures, and take quizzes. Members can meet new people, without the risk of rejection.
Experience Project - A personal growth and support community connecting members through shared experiences.
Facebook - A social utility that connects people, to keep up with friends, upload photos, share links and videos.
FaceParty - Community including live chat, photograph uploads and messaging between members.
Faves - Allows users to find, save and share interesting web content with friends and family.
Flickr - Picture galleries available with chat, groups, and photo ratings.
Flirtomatic - Online mobile flirting and dating service, with profile search, live chat, and ratings.
Flixster - Members can share movie ratings, add favorite celebrities to their blog, meet people with similarities, and take a movie quiz.
Fotki - A service for sharing and printing photos. Also offers blogs.
Fotolog - A community of interconnected photo diaries and blogs.
Friends Reunited - The main site reunites people, while Genes Reunited enables members to pool their family trees; the Dating and Jobs sites link members with similar attributes, interests and/or locations. Pages specific to several locations around the world.
Friendster - A global social network that emphasizes friendship and the discovery of new people. Search for old friends and classmates, stay in touch with friends, share photos and videos. Also in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and in Spanish.
Fruehstueckstreff - A forum for people to meet for breakfast and stimulating conversation. Basic and premium memberships. In English and German.
Gaia Online Community - General Anime, Manga, and video game discussions, a links database and a fan-art gallery. Lets members create and customize characters to represent themselves.
Gather - Encourages users to write articles and reviews, upload audio and images. Members collect Gather Points™ that can be used to purchase goods and services.
Geni - Enables the creation of a family tree, and a profile, which can be shared with family and friends.
Graduates.com - Lists schools, colleges and universities from many countries and offers free registration and browsing. Members can list contact information, a brief biography, and other details, to reunite with former classmates.
Grono.net - Offers videos, groups and forums as well as profile pages and classifieds. Based in Poland, available in several languages.
hi5 - Offers a profile page, a friend request feature, photo storage, music reviews, video, and email.
The Hospitality Club - A network of people around the world who offer accommodation, advice and help for travelers. Free membership.
Imeem - Users interact with each other by watching, posting, and sharing content of all media types, including blogs, photos, audio, and video.
Jaiku - Users can create a microblog and connect friends, posting from the web, by SMS, or from desktop clients.
Last.fm - An internet radio and music community website and social music platform. Uses a recommendation system known as "Audioscrobbler", to build a detailed profile of each user's musical taste.
LinkedIn: Relationships Matter - A networking tool to find connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts and business partners. Allows registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business.
LiveJournal - A service for journals and blogs, that also offers privacy controls, photo storage, publishing tools, style templates, and online communities for many interests.
MEETin.org - A community dedicated to providing a casual social environment. Members are encouraged to organize and participate in events in any given MEETin city.
Meetup - Helps groups of people with shared interests plan events and facilitates off line group meetings in various localities around the world.
MiGente.com - An English language site for the Hispanic community, reflecting Latino culture and perspectives.
MindViz - Home to a number of signed and unsigned underground artists, this site offers such features as profiles, blogs, member polls, instant messaging, live chat, and email.
MOG - An online community that focuses on sharing songs, a music library, videos and thoughts on music.
Multiply - Users can create, share and discuss blogs, photos, videos and music with others as well as post reviews of movies and books, or share a calendar of events.
MyChurch: A Christian Social Network - A service for Christian churches that follow the Nicene Creed. In addition to standard services, it allows churches to post sermon podcasts, have event calendars, and collect tithes from members for a fee.
myYearbook - Offers quizzes and a blog section, as well as videos and free content from CliffsNotes.
Netlog - Members can create a profile and a guestbook, post pictures and send and receive messages. Create a clan or join one of the existing clans.
Nexopia - Offers profiles, friends list, blogs, galleries, articles, and forums.
Ning - An online service to create, customize, and share a social network.
OkCupid - A free social networking and dating website that also offers features that include blogs and member-created quizzes.
OneClimate.net - Devoted to the subject of climate change, users share thoughts, ask questions, and post videos and images. Create a personal eco-profile and calculate a carbon footprint.
Opera Community - Features include a blog service, photo albums and forums. Users may download skins and setups for the Opera browser.
Orkut - Social networking and discussion site operated by Google.
OUTeverywhere - A lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community that includes member profiles, picture galleries, private messages, discussion boards and online chat. Also organizes offline events.
Passado - Offers blogging, photo sharing, reviews and a groups section. Communities in Spain, France, Germany and Italy.
Piczo - In this photo website builder and community, users can add items such as images, text content, videos, glitters, shout-outs, and profile pages.
Pownce - Users send messages, files, links, and events to friends. Basic and pro accounts. Currently only limited registrations are accepted.
ProfileHeaven - In addition to profiles, offers email, a forum, music, videos and an arcade.
Rummble - A mobile social network. Users can share favorite places, explore friend's travels on the web or from a mobile, upload photos, write a mobile blog, instant message, and flirt.
Ryze Business Networking - Members get a free networking-oriented home page and can send messages to other members. They can also join special Networks related to their industry, interests or location.
Sconex - Designed for high school students, members can set up a profile, share photos, post a mini-blog, create a quiz and locate people based on their profiles.
Sermo - An online community for physicians to post observations and questions about clinical issues and hear other doctors' opinions.
Shelfari - This social media site is focused on books. Members can build virtual bookshelves, discover, rate and discuss books, and participate in online groups.
Skyrock - Offers blogs, profiles, chat, photos, and videos.
Snooth - A community for wine drinkers; registered users can research, review and shop for wine.
Sportsvite - A service for organizing active sports and connecting with other players for league teams, pick-up games, and sports or activity groups; combines sports-specific targeted search and member profiles with invitation and game management tools.
The Student Center - A community for teens, college students, and young adults. Offers profiles, forum, groups, chat and games.
StumbleUpon - A web browser plugin that allows users to discover and rate webpages, photos, videos, and news articles.
Tagged - Allows users to send messages, leave comments, browse photos, watch videos, play games, give tags and chat.
TakingITGlobal - An international non-profit organization headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that connects youth around the world, encouraging them to get involved in improving their local and global communities.
43 Things - Users create an account and list goals or hopes which are then connected to other people's goals.
TravBuddy - Hotel reviews, and travel blogs to help with trip planning. Users can share travel tips, find a travel buddy, or blog about travel experiences.
tribe.net - An online community, based in several cities throughout the U.S. and in Canada. Users create a network of friends, and join or create tribes for common interests.
Twitte - Allows users to send text-based posts to the website, via short message service, instant messaging, email, or an application such as Twitterrific. For SMS, for the U.S.A. and Canada and a UK number for international use.
Vox - A personal blogging service where people share thoughts, photos, videos with friends and family.
WAYN - Where Are You Now? - A travel and lifestyle social networking community designed for members to meet others, keep friends and family informed of their whereabouts and activities, and share experiences.
WebBiographies.com - This service has an emphasis on genealogy, biography and memoir writing and family trees. Members receive a life book which has a public journal website. The system is designed to accommodate almost any language and character set.
Woophy - A photo sharing website and online community where members can put their photos on a world map. Offers photo contests and a forum.
XING - A social software platform providing a small-world network for professionals.
Zooomr - Offers online photo sharing. Users can securely and privately show photos to friends and family, or blog the photos taken with a camera phone.
Zwinkster - Users can build online profiles, create customized avatars, become friends with other users, and engage in basic social networking activities in the virtual world Zwinktopia.